These Are The Stargazing Events To Look Forward To In 2025, Canada Reviews

Whether it’s because we’re currently living in a window of the sun’s ‘solar maximum’ or everyone is itching to throw some shapes as at a full-moon party, noctourism is set to be a huge travel trend this year. 

Why? Well, according to journalist Stephanie Vermillion, author of the new National Geographic book 100 Nights of a Lifetime: The World’s Ultimate Adventures After Dark, who we spoke to for our noctourism guide, ‘Just being out in the dark, whether it’s a full-moon hike or a twilight safari, adds a layer of excitement, mystery, and adventure.’

‘Nature becomes even more enchanting at night, with sparkly fireflies, kaleidoscopic auroras, and the animal kingdom’s nocturnal soundtrack – the night provides such a visceral reminder of our world’s multisensory beauty.’

And noctourism can include anything from gazing at the Northern Lights to shaking your stuff at a nighttime festival. However, for the nature-lovers out there, celestial spectacles are probably quite high up on their bucket list, so here are the ones to look forward to this year, according to the New Scientist. 

First up, because we’re at the very peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle (which is known as the ‘solar maximum’ and will be lasting until the summer) it’s a brilliant time to see the Northern Lights. And you might not even need to journey to typically northern, chilly locations to witness them, although that might maximise your chances – have a look at the best places to witness them here. 

Next up, it’s meteor showers. According to the New Scientist, the northern hemisphere will be blessed with the Geminids in December,  a promise of more than 100 meteors per hour during the middle of the month. There’s also the Perseids in August, and the Eta Aquariids in the first week of May in the southern hemisphere. 

Always wanted to see a planet? Well the best way to do that is in ‘opposition’, when the Earth falls directly between a planet and the sun, and that will happen for Mars in January, Saturn and Neptune in September and Uranus in November. 

Oh, and then there’s those partial solar eclipses! On March 29, one will be passing over Canada and northern Europe, and on September 21, there’ll be another over New Zealand and Antarctica. If you’re holding out for a total eclipse, you’ll have to wait until 2026. 

Read the full New Scientist feature here.

Hey there, stargazer

From the best places to glimpse the aurora borealis to the spots primed for star-gazing, we’ve got a guide for that. Read all about noctourism and all the ways you can do it here. 

Did you see that this remote archipelago is closing to all but 80 volunteers?

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